Surface excavation machines are used to level terrain and/or remove a layer of material from a given site location. Typical applications include surface mining, demolishing a road, and prepping a site for new construction or reconstruction. Surface excavation machines provide an economical alternative to blasting and hammering. Furthermore, surface excavation machines provide the advantage of generating a consistent output material after a single pass. Therefore, surface excavation machines can reduce the need for primary crushers, large loaders, large haul trucks and the associated permits to transport materials to crushers.
An example surface excavation machine includes a main chassis supporting an operator cab. The main chassis is supported on a ground drive system such as a plurality of tracks. An engine such as a diesel engine is mounted on the main chassis. The engine provides power for driving the various components of the machine. Often, the diesel engine powers a hydraulic system which includes various hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders included throughout the machine. An excavating tool is typically mounted at a rear end of the main chassis. The excavation tool can include a rotational excavating drum mounted on a pivotal boom. The excavating drum carries a plurality of cutting teeth suitable for cutting rock. An example surface excavation machine of the type described above is disclosed at U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,360, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Surface excavation machines are often used for extremely rugged applications. To accommodate such applications, pivotal interfaces for allowing tilting and pivoting of the excavating tools of surface excavation machines have been designed with extraordinarily robust, heavy-duty constructions. Such constructions are typically quite large, heavy and expensive to manufacture. Such constructions can negatively affect the maneuverability of surface excavation machines, particularly when the surface excavation machines are being maneuvered with the excavation tools raised during non-excavation operations.